At City Legal, be assured, our specialist immigration consultants dealing with your case are trained to provide highly professional service & solve complex immigration issues. We don’t just facilitate Immigration; we create opportunities & believe in innovative immigration. Our team continue to explore ways to efficiently handle your cases and reduce your stress in making a successful Immigration application or appeal.

The immigration health surcharge will be increasing from 08th January 2019. The increased fee will be £400, doubled from the previous £200 for each year of the visa duration applied. There is a lower rate for students and Tier 5 Youth mobility workers which is £300; again doubled from the previous £150.

The draft order was passed further to a final parliament approval on 28th November 2018 and will impact all applications made on or after 08th January 2018. There is however no official statement from Home Office or Health Department, but various sites including freemovement.org.uk has reported this on the basis of good authority.

The immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, has announced on 06th December 2018, a new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules with major reforms to Tier 1 of the points-based system. The full version of the changes proposed can be viewed here.

The key changes are the introduction of a new Innovator route targeting more experienced people to replace the existing Tier 1 Entrepreneur route and suspending the Tier 1 Investor route which will be reformed soon. The new Innovator route will have a similar emphasis on endorsement by a business sponsor, who will assess applicants’ business ideas for their innovation, viability and scalability.

According to the Statement laid before Parliament, these reforms will be introduced in the spring and is aimed to ensure that the UK remains a world-leading destination for investment and innovation. There is also wider changes planned for the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) route. The changes will expand this route to provide for a route of entry for leading architects endorsed by the Royal Institute of British Architects, under the remit of Arts Council England (ACE). This change builds upon other reforms to the route earlier this year, including doubling the number of places available, providing for faster settlement to existing leaders in their fields endorsed under this route, and expanding the route to leading fashion designers, also endorsed under the remit of ACE.

There will be also more technical changes to Tier 1 and Tier 2 routes for highly skilled workers. These changes will be made to ensure the Immigration Rules remain up-to-date and for consistency purposes.

The Tier 1 (Investor) immigration route will be suspended from midnight tonight (6/7 December) which means no applications will be accepted after today.

Currently, a Tier 1 (Investor) visa is granted to wealthy candidates who are willing to make a substantial financial investment of £2 million, £5 million or £10 million in Government bonds or British businesses in return for permission to apply for permanent residence in five, three or two years respectively.

This so-called ‘gold-plated’ visa scheme which allows foreign investors a fast-track to settlement in the UK is planned to be suspended in order to tackle money laundering as part of serious organised crime conducted by those granted this visa. The Immigration Minister has been reported stating that the planned measures aim to make sure that only those genuine investors who play by rules and intend to support the UK business can benefit from the UK immigration system.

While a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules is planned to be laid before Parliament later today, as assumed to make the changes necessary to suspend the Tier 1 (Investor) route, the route itself will be re-introduced for applications in 2019 at unspecified date. Changes are planned to be serious, including removing government bonds from the list of acceptable investments and leaving only active and trading UK companies as option for investment while also obliging applicants to provide comprehensive audit trails evidencing the money source.

The announcement has been received as a shock by some practitioners who are concerned about the timing of introduction of these measures which collides with the timing of debating of the whole new future of the UK immigration system amid Brexit which may have a negative effect on already nervous investors coming from abroad.

These planned changes to investor visa scheme are not the first aimed to tackle non-genuine migrants investing in the UK through the Tier 1 (Investor) immigration route, as previously in November 2014 and April 2015 there had been reforms under which applications can be refused if there are reasonable doubts about the source of the investment funds or that they have been acquired through unlawful conduct. Those reforms resulted in planned plummeting of the number of Tier 1 (Investor) visas in their immediate aftermath.

The UK government has published its long-awaited withdrawal agreement and supporting papers for leaving the EU. The draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement agreed by the Cabinet sets out the terms of the UK’s “divorce” from the EU, over 585 pages. In addition, the EU and the UK published a joint political declaration on their future relationship, which sets out broad areas of future co-operation.

A large section of the draft agreement (part ) is dedicated to the rights of EU citizens to live in the UK, and UK citizens to live in the EU. The UK will “take back control” of migration from the EU, but it will happen slowly.

The headline is that EU citizens and their families will continue to have the right to move to live and work in the UK (and vice versa) until the end of the transition period in December 2020.Those who take up residence before the end of the transition period will be allowed to remain beyond transition and, if they stay for five years, will be allowed to remain permanently.

However, once the transition period is over, the draft agreement does allow the UK to require EU citizens who stay on to apply for a new residence document. The agreement says application forms for this residence status “shall be short, simple, user-friendly”. All this applies to UK citizens in EU countries too.

The draft agreement says that a country may ask people to “voluntarily” start applying for this residence status before the transition period ends. Looking to the future, beyond the end of the transition period, the 14-page Outline Political Declaration document says that the UK and the EU will aim to achieve: arrangements for temporary entry for “business purposes”; visa-free travel for short-term visits; co-operation on tackling illegal immigration.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is set to launch a new visa application system within the UK. The new system will include an Online Application and further process at new Visa and Citizenship Application Service Centres operated by outsourcing firm Sopra Steria.

9th November: The new UK VCAS centres will start to open around the country and all locations will be open by 30th November.

During the period of 5th November – 29th November, the majority of customers can choose whether to enrol their biometrics and submit their documents via these new centres or use the existing processes via Premium Service Centres.

29th November: Premium Service Centres will close

January 2019: Service and Support Centres will open, for use by a small number of customers who require more support with their application. These customers will continue to use the current process until January; we will issue more information on this process shortly.

The current process for UK visa and citizenship applications, including submitting biometrics, will remain in place until 29 November; so from 05 November – 29 November, customers have the choice of using the existing process, or the new process. The The full published guidance and location of the new centers can be downloaded here. Sopra Steria information sheet can be accessed here.

The judgment considers two inter-connected legal issues. Firstly, the judgement answers when it will be unreasonable to expect a non-British child who has been resident in the UK for seven or more years to leave the UK under the ‘7-year’ rule contained in 276ADE(1)(iv) of the Immigration Rules. The ‘7-year’ rule provides that a child will be permitted to remain where the child “has lived continuously in the UK for at least seven years (discounting any period of imprisonment) and it would not be reasonable to expect the applicant to leave the UK” and, on its face, does not require consideration of parental misconduct. In the judgement, Lord Carnwath provides that it is impossible to read this provision as importing a requirement to the criminality or misconduct of the parent. However, he further finds that the immigration status of the parent/s is indirectly relevant to the consideration of whether it is reasonable for a child to leave the UK. Accordingly, as he further elaborates, the correct approach is not to ask is it reasonable for the child to leave the UK but rather is it reasonable to expect the child to follow the parent with no right to remain to the country of origin. When approaching this question, it is important to note that poor immigration history on the part of the parent/s does not justify removal of a child, but rather that, if the rule is read in conjunction with Section 117B of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (introduced by the Immigration Act 2014) as Lord Carnwath holds that the same approach applies to section 117B as to paragraph 276ADE(1)(iv), the status of the parent will follow that of the child. Namely, Section 117B, that is very similar to paragraph 276ADE(1)(iv) of the Immigration Rules apart from being directed to the position of the parent not the child and applying only to tribunals and courts and not officials at the Home Office, may answer what happens where it is not reasonable for a child to leave the UK on what paragraph 276ADE(1)(iv) is silent. Section 117B, as directed to the position of the parent not the child, answers that parent must be allowed to stay with the child.

Secondly, the judgment answers whether a court or tribunal, when considering the public interest in deportation, should take into account parental misconduct when assessing whether the effect of deportation on a child (with whom the foreign criminal has a parental relationship) is ‘unduly harsh‘ under Section 117C(5) of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and Paragraph 399 of the Immigration Rules. One of the court’s conclusions in this regard is that where a foreign criminal has a genuine and subsisting relationship with a qualifying child and the effect of a foreign criminal’s deportation on the child would be unduly harsh, decision-makers shall not take into account the relative severity of the parent’s offence.

To sum it up, the judgment laid down that where under the scheme of immigration law a discretionary assessment of the impact of removal on a child using a “reasonableness” or “undue harshness” test is to be conducted, the conduct of the parent is irrelevant to an assessment of how harsh removal impacted on the child. That is for the reason that conduct of the parent/s will already have been considered in the prescribed procedure and, importantly, a child is not to be blamed for matters for which he or she is not responsible, such as the misconduct of a parent.

Immigration law firm Lupins based in Wembley Park has ceased trading after getting into financial difficulties. The London firm, well known in the immigration sector, halted operations from 28 September and has handed over its client files to Duncan Lewis, which has also taken on some ex-Lupins staff. Lupins clients can contact Lubna Chauhan at Duncan Lewis by email or on 03337720409 to access their file or to confirm that they are happy for Duncan Lewis to take over their case. There is speculation that Lupins’s difficulties were partly caused by legal aid cuts and further demonstrates the challenges faced by immigration firms relying on legal aid.

What to do next?

Duncan Lewis is holding all of Lupins immigration client files. This means that if Lupins were your immigration Solicitors, the paperwork is now all with Duncan Lewis. However, this does not mean that Duncan Lewis will be continuing to act for you in your immigration case. If you would like them to do so, you will need to complete a consent form allowing them to act for you, but you do not have to continue with them. You are free to choose a different immigration solicitor at any time, so in this case there is no problem with you giving consent to Duncan Lewis to continue to act in your immigration matter, or to instruct a different immigration lawyer.

We are a multi award winning Immigration law firm based in the same location – Wembley Park and also contracted with the legal aid agency to undertake public funded work. We would be pleased to discuss and to take on any immigration matters previously handled by Lupins Solicitors. Please do not hesitate to contact us on 0330 058 3929 if you require any further assistance.

On 11 October 2018, the Home Office has published the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 1534) which the Home Secretary laid down before the Parliament for approval. The statement is around 50 pages long and with changes taking effect from 1 November 2018. It can be accessed here.

The Statement of Changes has three main purposes. Firstly, it introduces Changes in Appendix EU and implementation of a second pilot phase of the EU Settlement Scheme for resident EU citizens and their family members to obtain UK immigration status, to run from 1 November to 31 December 2018. This phase will test the full end-to-end online application process, will significantly scale up the testing, including, on a voluntary basis and with the agreement of the Devolved Administrations, staff in the higher education, health and social care sectors across the UK. This phase will also include some vulnerable individuals as them being supported by a small number of local authorities and civil society organisations in order to enable testing of the operation of the scheme for those with support needs.

Secondly, the Statement of Changes further introduces the “Calais leave”, a form of leave to remain for children transferred to the UK as part of the Calais camp clearance to reunite with their family between 17 October 2016 and 13 July 2017 and who do not qualify for international protection (i.e. refugee status or humanitarian protection). As it would not be in interest of those children to separate them from their families but rather to reunite with their families and integrate in the UK, this support from the UK authorities is perceived as a significant positive change to Immigration Rules.

Thirdly, there are changes to the general visa application process, including the requirements to post passports and original documents, in order to support the operation of the new application process in UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). By amending the Rules on the requirements for a valid application, the majority of those applying in the UK to extend their stay or apply for citizenship will be able to submit key documents and personal information in a more secure way while retaining their passport and supporting evidence which will make an application process more flexible and accessible.

However, there is one controversial major change introduced in the Statement. The immigration health surcharge will double from £200 to £400 in December 2018 for non-EU nationals. This has been explained as a necessary and fair contribution from long-term migrants to long-term sustainability of NHS service. These changes affect neither permanent residency holders nor certain vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers and modern slavery victims.

Theresa May’s cabinet has agreed a post-Brexit immigration system that will offer visas to immigrants in a tiered system based on skills and wealth, a flagship policy that is expected to be one of her key announcements to the Conservative party conference next week.

Downing Street hopes the migration policy will appeal to party members concerned about May’s leadership and the Brexit negotiations, which last week appeared to have reached an impasse at Salzburg when EU leaders declared her Chequers proposals would not work.

The Brexit negotiations update was held at the end of the cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon and the only person who referred to a Canada-style trade deal was the prime minister herself in her own presentation. She added that some EU heads of government were being more constructive than others behind the scenes, but did not specify which leaders.The meeting amounted to a moment of relief for the under-pressure prime minister, who heads to New York on Tuesday for a United Nations meeting before turning her attention to the party conference. One cabinet source said May was “just trying to get through the conference season intact”.

A white paper setting out the new immigration policy is due to be published later this autumn.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published its research into migration from the EU and how it should be managed after Brexit. The committee recommends a policy allowing greater access for higher-skilled migration while restricting access for lower-skilled workers. It suggests extending the current scheme for high-skilled non-EEA migrants – known as a Tier 2 visa – to those from EEA countries as well. As part of this process, the cap on the total amount of workers allowed to enter under Tier 2 should be abolished and the range of jobs eligible for the visas expanded, the committee says. Current policy is to allow 20,700 high-skilled workers into the UK each year on Tier 2 visas. The current salary threshold for such visas is £30,000, which the report says should be retained. You can read the full report here.

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